The disc which resulted from the elementary blob of paint on the canvas proved to be ideal for Ernst Wilhelm Nay in his efforts to represent spatial relations within the two-dimensionality of the picture. He combined the disc with a range of other geometric forms initially before focusing entirely on this single motif, as in Chromatische Scheiben (Chromatic Discs) from 1960. It was from a series of the same name that he developed the so-called Eye Pictures – three of which were contributed as large-scale paintings to documenta III in 1963. A younger generation of artists were sceptical of Nay’s prominence sparking a public discussion about his status as a representative artist and accusations of empty decoration. Behind this lay a zeitgeist which was gradually evolving to demand that art demonstrate social relevance and a critical reflection of contemporary events.
Ernst Wilhelm Nay (1902–1968)
Chromatische Scheiben, 1960
Currently exhibited: Yes (Gallery: The Beat Goes On)
Material: Oil on canvas
Size: 189 x 341 cm
Inv-Nr.: B_419
Image rights: VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Keywords:
Previous owner: Arcandor AG, Hauptverwaltung Essen, 1969; Elisabeth Nay-Scheibler, Essen, 1969; Grisebach, Berlin, 2011; private collection, Switzerland
Acquisition: Reinhard Ernst Collection, Grisebach, Berlin, 2017
Solo exhibitions:
1973
‘Nay’, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne; Kunsthalle Bremen, Bremen
1964
‘Ernst Wilhelm Nay’, Westfälischer Kunstverein, Münster
1961
‘E.W. Nay – Bilder, Aquarelle, Zeichnungen’, Galerie Der Spiegel, Cologne
Group exhibitions:
1962
‘Große Kunstausstellung’, Haus der Kunst, Munich
1960
‘Arte alemana desde 1945’, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Like many artists of his generation, Ernst Wilhelm Nay experienced the Second World War firsthand as a soldier. His studio in Berlin was destroyed so he moved to Hofheim in Taunus after the war with the help of gallery owner Hanna Bekker vom Rath. From the 1950s on, his art was exhibited more abroad, for example at the biennials in Venice and São Paulo and in gallery and museum exhibitions in New York from 1955 onwards. He first became acquainted with the works of Abstract Expressionism through documenta II and a trip to New York in 1959. Nay was self-assured bordering on blunt in terms of how he regarded the significance of his own work within the context of his American colleagues in 1966: ‘I know there are only two painters of colour in this sense today. Sam Francis and Nay. Sam Francis – the emotional one, Nay the complicated European one, the surface as colour, colour as surface.’ [1]
He committed himself to a period of radical self-reflection in the 1950s. The key element of this new phase of his work was the coloured disc, which emerged from the elementary blob of paint: “When I go to the canvas with a brush, there is a small blob, I enlarge that, then I have a disc. This disc already contributes quite a lot to the surface. By adding further discs, there emerges a system of proportions in terms of colour and size, which you can now combine and continue to assemble into larger pictorial complexes.” [2]
He combined the disc with a range of other geometric forms initially before focusing entirely on this single motif, as in Chromatische Scheiben (Chromatic Discs) from 1960. Between 1954 and 1962, in numerous works on paper and canvas, he explored its compositional and colour possibilities-
It was from a series of the same name that he developed the so-called Eye Pictures – three of which were exhibited as large-scale paintings at documenta III in 1963 where they were presented on the ceiling. A younger generation of artists were suspicious of Nay’s prominence sparking a public discussion about his status as a representative artist and accusations of empty decoration. Hans Platschek wrote in Die Zeit of September 4, 1964: ‘The nonsense of the texts, the non-commitment of the discs has method, if not sophistication. If one wants to get to the top of the rankings in this country, one must create an image, a universal one, which produces the effect that the consumer desires.’ [3] Proving that Nay’s paintings are testimony to – and even at the heart of – a fundamental reassessment of the function and role of art in postwar Germany. Behind this lay a zeitgeist which was gradually evolving to demand that art demonstrate social relevance and a critical reflection of contemporary events.
[1] E. W. Nay, c. 1966, draft of a speech, in: E. W. Nay: Lesebuch: Selbstzeugnisse und Schriften 1931–1968, ed. by Magdalene Claesgens, Cologne 2002, p. 280.
[2] E. W. Nay, 1963, in: Nay 2002 (as note 1), p. 246.
[3] Hans Platschek: ‘Nays Scheiben – Ein repräsentativer deutscher Maler genauer betrachtet,’ in: Die Zeit, 4.9.1964, quoted in: E. W. Nay. Bilder und Dokumente 1902–1968, Munich 1980, p. 253.
